THE move to create a 'Business Improvement District' (BID) in Tavistock received a boost last week, following a meeting in the town.

The BID concept is being spearheaded by the town's chamber of commerce. It involves businesses within a defined area paying a yearly levy into a ring-fenced account, the money going to fund agreed improvement schemes in the area.

The chamber is currently working up the proposal and has applied to Tavistock Town Council for a grant of £7,000.

A group of councillors recently met chamber representatives to talk about the scheme further.

Cllr Robin Pike, at last week's meeting of the council's finance committee, said: 'The BID seems to be feasible to safeguard the commercial centre of the town, although there are other businesses outside the town.'

Cllr Pike said there was a need for some sort of action, as in the current financial climate, shops were closing 'left, right and centre'.

Cllr Anne Johnson said: 'It seems to be an opportunity to move things forward, as far as businesses in the town are concerned.

'If it came to a vote I would be prepared to support it. The chamber was very honest about everything and there were full and frank discussions about it.'

The committee agreed to offer the chamber a grant of £7,000 towards the BID project, which was due to be ratified by the full council on Tuesday night.

Chamber chairman Nigel Eadie said he was very pleased with the way the BID project was developing: 'We have been really successful with all the applications for funding we have made so far, we have not had a rejection from anyone.

'We are waiting on the outcome of one small grant but we will have basically got the £43,000 we need to start the first phase of the process, of consulting businesses, in September.'

Mr Eadie said there would be a series of meetings between October and January next year, in which the area to be included in the BID would be established, and a range of possible projects drawn up.

These would be presented to businesses next February, with the proposals refined during the next few months.

Confirmation that businesses in the town were fully in support of the projects would be sought next summer, with a vote on whether finally to establish BID status for Tavistock taking place next September.

Providing the outcome was positive, the formal BID programme would begin in October 2011.